


Emily's Adventure: The age of new blastia

by TwilightFirefly



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Some Alcohol Use, Violence, next generation characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 21:39:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11261532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightFirefly/pseuds/TwilightFirefly
Summary: Twenty years after the end of the adephagos the world is mostly at peace, people and spirits now work together to imporve every day life, Emily often spends her days either exploring the city or helping the people of the lower quarter, however a rouge guild called Blood Bound threatens the fragile peace with a daring plan, the creation of new blastia.





	1. Terca Lumireis: Twenty Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers! This will be my first work on this site and my first published work in probably five years so bear with me! I had this idea for a while about how the world would end up after the events of the game and this is what I came up with, the main character Emily isn't my idea completly, discriptions of her apperence and her name come from a fanart I found of what Yuri and Estelle's daughter might look like. The drawing is done by asatsuyu and it's a really cool art so be sure to check out of page on Deviant Art!
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story! it's gonna to write it all but i'm up for the challenge <3

“Our world… Terca Lumireis… A world we once feared to explore, hidden away behind the blastias barriers, we thought we were safe, we thought that our way of life would go on forever… but it didn’t, and soon we realized our way of life…had come at the cost of another’s, our penance? We lost the blastia and all the protection that had come with it, but in time, we realized that the magical power that the blastia possessed still existed, in the form of the spirits that now cover the earth. Together humans, Kritya and spirits have begun to work side by side to fill the gaps blastia left behind. Giant spirit’s now float over the large cities and towns that exists across the planet, others partner up with us to be magic wielders, allowing us to use magic and healing artes though them! Not all but quite a few humans have a spirt at their side. Working together I know we can make Terca Lumireis and even better and safer place then it ever was before.”

Estelle looked up from her work taking a deep breath, slowly she took off her glasses and got up from her work table, sighing.

“I think that was a very productive session, I’ll be done with this book before you know it!”

“That’s true but… you realize you’re going to be late for meeting with the emperor, right?”

Estelle looked up at a small figure that was sitting on top of her dresser draws, long country pink hair and small dragonfly like wing adorned the spirits body, her light pink and white dress was made of cotton and silk and she had bright green eyes.

“AHH! Your right Rosalee! How! Could! I! Have! Forgotten!?” Her words came out one at a time as she flung cloths out of her dresser.

“Now, now, Estelle don’t get worked up.” Rosalee leapt from her place and landed on the floor growing to human size.

“I’m sure The Emperor won’t mind.” Estelle took a deep breath.

“I know your right…. I also have to prepare to visit Undine, she has something she wants to show me!” Estelle’s excited voice rung though the room as she changed.

“Yeah… you and Undine have always had a connection… I always wondered how different things would be if you could have picked her….”

Estelle turned around and hugged her spirit partner reassuringly.

“Oh Rosalee, don’t ever feel like your second best! Sure I was little disappointed when Undine said she and the other three elemental spirits wouldn’t be taking on partners, but I love having you as my partner and I wouldn’t change a thing!”

They both laughed and Estelle put on her gold bracelet that had once been her blastia, the cores had been replaced with red rubies and she wore it often as a reminder of her adventures with Yuri.  
“Alright let’s go!”

Estelle’s determined look caused Rosalee to chuckle as they left her room.

 

As she reached the main conference room she found, unsurprisingly that Ioder was waiting for her, he got up from his chair to give her a hug before sitting again, a warm expression on his face.

“Ahh Estellise, it’s good to see you, your looking beautiful as ever.” Estelle frowned.

“Oh Ioder, stop it you make me feel bad!” She huffed.

“Oh? Why is that?” He replied with a pondering expression.

“Because…. Your aging…and… I’m not…well….very slowly.” Ioder chuckled.

“I wasn’t aware that was something to feel bad about.”

“Well…”

“It’s not as if you can help it in any case, the over exposure to such dense aer has interesting effects.”

Estelle nodded.

“Yes… I suppose it’s something we all just had to get used to. It’s still hard sometimes though….so many people I know are getting older….” Estelle sat down slightly sad.

“Well you don’t have to worry about me, I’m perfectly fine with my middle-aged body, besides, if I still looked like I did twenty years ago this beard a grew out would not look good on me at all.” Estelle laughed.  
“I suppose not!”

They both laughed a moment and Ioder reached for his glasses that were sitting on the mahogany table and put them on.

“Ahh and it appears I’ve been rather rude, Hello Rosalee.” 

Rosalee, who was now sitting on Estelle’s shoulder giggled.

“Hello your highness.” He shrugged off the formal greeting.

“No thanks, I hear that more than enough throughout the day, Ioder is fine.”

“One of these days you’ll get her to say your name.”

“Haha hopefully, now where is Yuri? There are some rather important things to go over and I’d like him to be here when we discuss it.”

“Hey, who says I’m not here!” 

Yuri who was hiding out in the other corner of the room was casually leaning against the wall, currently wearing his True knight uniform which was the closest to formal they would ever get him to be and they both knew it.  
“Ahh Yuri, though the window as always.” Ioder replied, sounding exasperated.

“Eh, doors are over rated. So what’s going on?” Yuri sat down next to Estelle giving her a quick kiss causing her to smile.

“Well…” Ioder started to sound serious and the three listened intently.

“The rouges, formally known as the Blood Bound Guild are starting to show signs of organizing and taking over small villages and towns not only controlled by the Union but now also The Empire, it’s becoming a problem and the knights are having issues rooting them out.”

“Yeah Flynn’s told me about this already, things are getting bad out there.” Yuri replied.

“Yes they are and it looks like they’re forcing locals to side with them as well, giving them their ‘protection’.”

“Just wonderful.” Yuri sighed.

“those poor people, has the union been able to do anything?” Estelle asked looking at Yuri.

“Working on it, unfortunately Harry wants to try to talk to them first, not what I’d do but we’ll play it his way for now.” Ioder nodded.

“Very well, hopefully we can get a handle of this before things get too far out of hand, and I’ll of course leave the Union angle to you Yuri.”

“Haha you better, I could imagine the stir you would cause coming to the union for a chat!”

Everyone laughed.

“Yes I can as well, our relationship with The Union in the last twenty years has vastly improved, buut we still aren’t where I’d like us to be, on that note we need to talk about the other important issue for today.”

“Oh boy here we go.” Yuri said getting up.

“Come now Yuri it’s her Coronation, we should plan for it.” Ioder said hoping he would see reason.

“I don’t see why it’s a big deal, and I can tell you she’s not looking forward to it.”

“She’s probably not.” Ioder admitted.

“But it’s important, Estellise already had her Coronation, now it’s Emillise’s turn.” Yuri snorted.

“Look, I don’t want there to be any disputes as to who would take over if something ever happened to me, too many people would try to argue for their own place as ruler, and I can’t deal with any loopholes there may be once I’m dead.”

“He’s right Yuri, that would cause turmoil that The Empire wouldn’t be able to handle again.” Estelle chimed in.

“Yeah, yeah…” it was the best they were going to get to an ‘ok’ and that was fine with Estelle.

“Well if we’re all in agreement…?” Estelle nodded and Yuri simply waved his hand.

“Alright then, the coronation will be in three days, in the meantime I’ll see what can be done to help the people in the small towns being raided by these rouges.”

After a few goodbyes, Estelle, Yuri and Rosalee left the conference room and made their way to their quarters that Yuri and Estelle both shared, Yuri changed from his knight uniform back into the old cloths that Estelle knew him so well in, in all that time Yuri hadn’t stopped wearing his lower quarter outfit, especially when he left Zaphias on his trek to visit The Union which he did often.

“Alright Estelle, I’m heading out.” Grabbing his sword he made his way to the door.

“And yes, I’ll be here for the coronation, don’t worry about it.” He stopped her as she was opening her mouth to speak.

“I was going to say be safe, but ok.” She said giving him a knowing smile.

“Love you.” She came up and gave him a hug and kiss.

“You to.” He gave her a quick kiss.

“Imma leave it up to you to keep Em from losing her mind until this coronation.” She chuckled.

“Will do.”

With that he made his way out of the castle and out of the city, leaving Estelle to ponder just where their daughter was at the moment.

‘I hope she understands…’ Estelle sighed and went back inside.


	2. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again! Hello, So Chapter two will have a bit more lore and info as to what's going on, gonna meet some more old friends! :D
> 
> Also forgot to mention in Chapter one that this story is also being uploaded to and originates on Fanfiction.net under my MidnightButterfly account, so you can read there as well! Also please leave comments i'd love to hear what you think of the story so far.

The crisp, cool air flowed around her as she jumped from roof top to roof top, raven locks flying behind her despite the pony tail she wore, green eyes filled with joy seemed to glimmer and dance as she continued to explore Zaphias from its heights, this is where she belonged, out here in the open air, wild and free, waiting for the next adventure that was around the corner.

“Emily!”

The familiar voice made her both happy and cringe, she knew exactly why she was here and she wasn’t ready to leave the safety and freedom of the roof tops just yet, she could literally stay up there for hours without a care in the world.

“Emily! I know you’re up there! Don’t make me climb! …ugh….”

Emily let out a snort and kept jumping across the roofs, after a few minutes however Emily was interrupted by someone else jumping the roof in front of her, the blur of blond and blue almost made her miss her mark and fall into the trash bags below.

“Blare!!!” Blare giggled.

“Ugh, let me roam in peace, I just wanna jump around and explore the city.”

“Yeah, explore the city that you’ve explored your entire life? Come on you know why you’re out here, your hiding cuz you don’t want to be coronated.” 

Blare threw her a bottle of water which she caught, she looked at her childhood best friend angrily, more because she was right then anything else but that was beside the point.

“So, the question is, did you come to get me cuz you were worried about me? Or cuz uncle Flynn figured I’d be more likely to come home if it was you?” Blare huffed.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with dad.” She complained.

“I’m worried about you…you’ve barely been around since they first brought up about the coronation months ago…”

Emily leaned up against the chimney that was on this particular rooftop they had stopped on and took a sip of water, she pondered a moment before deciding she wasn’t going to answer the open question Blare had left in the air.

“So….” Emily pointed at Blares uniform.

 

“Your still doing this?” Emily’s question caught Blare off guard and she took a moment to answer her.

“Yeah… I’m starting my first tour… in a few days…”

“oh…” Was Emily’s only reply.

“I’m going to be with the Terris brigade!” Blare did her best to stand straight and confident.

“they’re station in a small town hear Heliord…. So…”

Emily got up from where she had been resting.

“All the way to Tolbyccia huh?” She didn’t look at her friend.

“Yeah…. I leave… right after your coronation….they planned it for in three days by the way…”

“Wonderful….” She sighed.

“Emily…. I…”

“Don’t even start, I’m heading back to the castle…”

“But Emily!” Blare protested willing her to understand as stopped at the edge of the roof.

“You do you Blare, if you even know how to anymore… I’ll see you at the Coronation…”

With that Emily leaped from the roof to another across the way and disappeared from the skyline, leaving Blare with her thoughts.

‘You do you huh…. if only it were that easy…’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“So, is everyone ready?” Harry Whitehorse sat at the front of the table, a place he had slowly gotten used to in twenty years as the new Don, and while he still didn’t really like being called the Don it was something that came with the territory, he hoped at least he was making his grandfather proud.

“Yes.” President Kaufman said calmly as she adjusted her glasses looking at the rest of the group.

“Unlike the rest of you, I was born ready.”

“If you say so Mary.” Nobis replied, getting a stern look from her.

“Kaufman does just fine.”

“I for one have my people to attend to, so if we can get on with it?” Their newest member to the ranks of the five master guilds spoke up.

“Of course Nan, I know this is a difficult time for your guild, I’ll do my best to keep this meeting short.”

“Thank you.” She replied folding her hands and placing them to her lips in contemplation.

“Well I’m ready.” Yuri replied.

“Very well.”

“Leaders of the master guilds, we all know why we’re here today, the influence of the former guild Blood Bound is far reaching, as of the last report I read they have taken control of over twelve towns and villages, eight of which between Heliord and Capua Nor, so far no one has died but the people are terrified and unwilling to go against them.”

“Trade routes to these towns have all but been cut off as well.” Kaufman said frustrated.

“As it stands these towns will either run out of food and supplies or….”

“Or they have to get it from their captors…. Nan finished sadly, Yuri gripped the table in anger.

“If the situation is really that bad why haven’t we acted yet?” Nobis asked, the leader of the Soul Smiths seemed a bit agitated as he spoke.

“I want to try to reason with them first, if at all possible, they have a lot of innocent people held up in these towns, and they might force them to fight us if we attack, not to mention it’s also empire controlled towns being taken as well, so more than likely the knights will want to be there as well.” Harry replied thoughtfully.

“We don’t need the Empire getting involved, we can take care of ourselves, no offence to you your highness.” Nobis said looking over at Yuri.

“Look guys, I’m a prince in name only, not as if I do anything with the postion.”

“Perhaps…” Nobis said his voice taking on a slightly dangerous edge.

“But who is to say where your loyalties lie when the chips are down? Your family lives in the Empire and you have a place of importance there.”

“I’m also a Guild leader, and I was given this seat at the table for a reason….” Yuri looked at him with an unnaturally calm expression.

“Also, don’t think it’s lost on me that you’re the only guild leader here that voted against me when I joined, not wanting an Empire born man turned guild leader among your ranks, but guess what? I’m here and I ain’t leaving anytime soon so you better get over yourself and work with me here.”

“I agree, we don’t have time to fight among ourselves, not to mention Yuri has been here for years now, I trust him.” Nan said.

“Well… you would…”

Nan looked at him with eyes of tiny slits, amber eyes burning with anger.

“you have something to say?”

“Well…” Nobis was cut off by Harry.

“Enough Nobis, we aren’t here to talk about whether Yuri deserves to be here, he was voted in years ago and is a trusted member of the Union.” Kaufman nodded.

“I second that, I wouldn’t have made it to Nordopolica without him.”

“If were done with this subject?” Harry scanned the room, Nobis scoffed but said nothing.

“Alright then, we have rouges to worry about, while I admit I would rather not have the Empire need to get involved, they used to be our people after all and we should handle this our own way, the fact remains that Empire controlled towns have been hit as well and they have a right to react.” Nan shook her head.

“I’m furious, these rouges are making the Union look bad, as if we breed this kind of behavior.”

“We’ll put an end to this Nan, one way or another.”

“You better.” Yuri spoke up, determination in his voice.

“I’m willing to play along for now, but Harry I swear the moment we get a report someone died cuz of Blood Bound, I will go after them, I hope you realize that.”

Harry and Yuri stared at each other for a moment before Harry spoke.

“I would expect no less from Brave Vesperia to be honest, but hopefully it won’t come to that.”

“Yeah hopefully.” Yuri replied, sitting back in his chair.

“But I’ve learned that things never really go the way I want them to.”

“let’s hope for everyone involved it does for once, this meeting is over tend to your guilds.” The leaders nodded leaving the room, Nobis made a show of leaving first which Yuri only sighed at, the man just couldn’t let it go could he?

As Yuri left the room Nan came up beside him, this wasn’t uncommon of course she often would do this when she needed to vent.

“This is all so stupid…” She mumbled almost more to herself then to Yuri but he replied anyway.

“Yeah well, not everyone is ok with the concept of a peaceful life.”

“I don’t understand! Poverty is at an all-time low in both The Union and The Empire….relations have improved and everyone is mostly happy and safe… why would anyone mess with that!?” Nan said her voice shaking with anger.

“Well…some people just want to set the world on fire and see how everyone reacts to it burning.” Yuri replied somewhat thoughtfully.

“ That’s Lilatta Springs… you’ve read that book?” She asked sounding stunned.

“Hey, a man gets bored while traveling in the air all the time, and Estelle sends A LOT of books.” Nan giggled.

“That’s very late in the book, seems you do like some kinds of heavy literature.” She said smiling.

“Yeah yeah.” He said waving her off which only made her smile more.

From the other side of the room Nan saw a few Hunting blades members talking amongst themselves in quiet whispers, one of them was crying while a friend of hers hugged her reassuringly, Her face fell.

“Hey?” Yuri said sounding concerned.

“Hmmm..? oh yes?” Nan replied snapping back to their conversation.

“You alright? Taking over so soon after what happened… can’t be easy on ya.” Nan unconsciously hugged herself.

“Losing Tison so soon after losing Clint it’s just….it’s so hard… for the longest time they were my only family…and now I don’t even have time to morn him….I don’t know why Tison chose me to take over after he was gone…”

“Well he obviously thought you could handle it, and I’m pretty confident you can handle it myself, you’re a strong, confident person you just gotta give yourself a chance.” She gave him a watery smile.

“Thanks Yuri, that means a lot coming from you, I promise I’ll do my best to keep this guild going.”

“Coming from me? What’s that supposed to mean?” She giggled despite the tears threatening to fall.

“Yuri! NAAAAaaaaan!!!” She jerked slightly at the calling of her name and quickly wiped away the nearly spilt tears, throwing a fake smile on her face she turned toward the source of the voice.

“Karol hi!” She called out as he ran up to them, quickly giving her a hug which she returned.

“How was your trip to Mt. Temza?” She asked.

“It was great, looks like the spirits there are gonna build their own capital!” Karol replied happily.

“Oh really? That’s surprising since so many died there…”

“Yeah, but they said they have a lot of history there both good and bad so it was the perfect place for them to build a permeant home.”

“Well that’s wonderful.” She smiled at him.

“Yeah, good work overseeing everything Karol.” Yuri said, gaining a broad smile from the younger man.

“Thanks Yuri! It’s been a long trip but I’m glad to be back in Dahngrest, I missed you.” He said the last part looking at Nan who did her best to smile again.

“I missed you to.”

“Welp, I’m going back to headquarters, you two have fun catching up.” Yuri gave Nan a reassuring smile and walked off.”

“Seeya Yuri!” 

Yuri shook his head, twenty years hadn’t slowed the energetic guildsmen down one bit, that much was for sure.

Karol turned back to Nan who seemed a little down, making him frown.

“What’s the matter?” Nan looked up at him.

“I’m pretty sure Nobis just accused me of having an affair with Yuri….in front of the entire master guild senate…” Karol looked at her horrified.

“The hell!” Karol looked as if he was going to storm into the Master guild meeting room and give Nobis a piece of his mind, this was backed up by the fact he began to walk away from her with an angry glint in his eyes.

“Karol don’t!” She quickly caught up to him stopping him on his tracks.

“Not worth it, besides I need to build trust with the other leaders… whether I like him or not he’s still a guild master…”

“He doesn’t have a right to say things like that!” Karol was still fuming.

“He doesn’t, but that’s beside the point…. he’s never liked Yuri so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but just the way he suggested…” She leaned against Karol sadly.

“Other than Clint and Tison…. Yuri is only other person who’s ever been like a father figure to me… I can’t believe Nobis would think such a thing…” Karol hugged her gently.

“Don’t worry, things will get better Nan, I promise.” She nodded against his chest.

“I still feel bad… about postponing the wedding…” Karol shook his head.

“Don’t be, you have a lot going on right now, when the time is right we’ll try again.” She nodded again.

“I’m so lucky to have such an understanding guy like you, I hope that soon things settle down.” 

“They will.” He said with determination in his voice.

“Just have to believe.”

“Your right.” She kissed him gently.

“Come on, I need to get back to my guild, and I bet you need to get back to yours.”

“Yeah, can’t make Yuri do everything ya know.” Nan smiled.

As the two walked away talking about the future, they never knew someone from the shadows of the room had been watching them, the figure wrote some notes into a small book before disappearing back into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's chapter two, just letting you know that i don't know really anything about Nobis's character in the game itself plus i wanted someone to be an antagonist against Yuri among the guild leaders and he seemed like the perfect fit.
> 
> Anyways, comment and let me know what you think! Kudos are appreciated as well. <3


	3. The Coronation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again! Gonna learn more about Who Emily is as a person this chaper, also might be meeting an interesting character.

“I look like a pin-up model for the wonder reporter magazine….” Emily looked at herself in the mirror with disappointment, being dressed up wasn’t something she enjoyed in the least, especially since they were going to be so many nobles and rich aristocrats.

“You look like the beautiful young woman that you are.” Her mother gently protested as she adjusted the back of her teal and turquoise dress.

“If you say so mom….” Emily looked doubtful, she preferred her white pants and two tone green outfit herself, they were styled to look like her father’s cloths after all.

“There, All done.” Estelle smiled proudly at her.

“You ready for today?” Emily frowned.

“As much as I’m going to be…” Estelle gave her a hug.

“It’s going to fine Emily you’ll see, I bet you’ll even have fun at the celebration afterward.”

“Mhm, I’ll try mom.”

“The coronation is in thirty minutes your highness.” A maid said from the door.

“Alright, we’re coming! I’ll go on ahead of you, it’s going to fine.” Estelle gently let her go and made her way out the door.

“Yeah…. Everything’s going to be just fine…” 

Emily sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror again, this wasn’t her, this girl that was dressed up with her hair done, looking so royal and refined wasn’t her, it wasn’t who she wanted to be.

After another prompt from the maid Emily made her way to the throne room, there were already so many people there, it seemed that just about every noble from the royal quarter had attended, probably some from Heliord as well, she quickly ducked her head back in from the door way and went around the long way.

She found her mother waiting for her as she made it to the small room that was connected to the throne room, there were castle staff everywhere it seemed, from people finishing the planning for the food to last minute touch ups for her hair, she hated it.

“Twenty minutes.” Someone called out and one of the hair dressers had her sit down so she could touch up her hair.

“Alright everyone, out of the room please!” Estelle asked and everyone quickly left the room causing Emily to sigh in relief.

“Sorry about them, they get carried away.” She said giggling.

“You going to be ok dear?” Estelle could see Emily looked a bit distressed, not quite as good at hiding her feeling as her father was.

“Yeah mom, just… give me a few minutes to myself please?”

Estelle stood for a minute more then finally walked toward the door. “I know your nervous, but it’s going to easier than you think, I love you.”

With that she closed the door behind her, somewhere in the distance from beyond the door she could hear someone say that Ioder had arrived, she slumped into her chair feeling defeated.

‘ok Emily your fine…. just go out there and get it over with… it’s just a coronation! Not the end of your life as you know it!’

“Who am I kidding….” She mumbled to herself.

She looked over at the half open window at the other end of the room, a thought popping into her head, she swat it down immediately but it resurfaced like an annoying fly, buzzing around her and reminding her of the possibilities.  
‘Oh boy…’ 

She walked over and opened the window, feeling the gentle, warm breeze on her face making her feel at ease, from the door she heard someone knock causing her to gasp slightly, she had over stayed her welcome.

“Your highness? Everyone is waiting for you… are you alright?”

She didn’t have time to think about it, it was now or never, she heard the door knob turn and finally made her choice, slipping through the window as quietly as she could, all she heard from the window as she scaled down the wall was the maid calling for her mother, blocking It out she landed in the soft grass of the royal gardens.

 

“She’s gone?!” 

Estelle sounded as if she was on the verge of tears as the maid explained that she wasn’t still in the room, they hadn’t found her outside the throne room like she was supposed to be and the knights standing guard at that door hadn’t seen her either, Estelle was about to panic.

“Estelle it’s alright I’m sure she’s fine.”

Yuri did his best to calm her down, although he was tired from his trip, having gotten no sleep on his way home from Dahngrest, still he wasn’t going to let Estelle freak out when there wasn’t even really a good reason to, he had a good idea where their daughter was probably going.

“I shouldn’t have left her alone…. she was so upset…” She hugged Yuri sadly.

“I didn’t think this was going to upset her this much, she’s so much like you…. I shouldn’t have pushed her...” 

Estelle wiped her eyes from tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

“Hey now, it’s gonna be fine…” Yuri hugged her back hoping to calm her down.

“you… think she hates me…? For supporting this…?” Yuri wiped away another tear from her face.

“Of course not, I’m pretty sure you’d have to do something a lot worse than this, she just doesn’t know what she wants to do is all.” He made sure Estelle had calmed down before letting her go, doing his best to smile at her.

“I’ll go find her, you think you can keep the nobles from losing their regal minds for a bit?”

“Yeah… I can do that.” 

“Alright then, we’ll be back, I promise.”

“okay…” She took a moment to calm herself then put on a warm smile.

“Alright everyone, calm down please! There’s been a small delay!”

Yuri left knowing the situation was in good hands, from behind him he could hear Flynn also joining in to calm the crowd, Blare was also somewhere nearby.

He made his way through the castle and out of the castle gates, he knew where he was going to go look for her, but he was going to take his time and let her clear her head, the nobles could wait awhile for their show at her expense. Taking a deep breath, he walked the streets of Zaphias.

 

Emily could see the city limits from here, the large stone wall that had been built around the city to help keep monsters from wandering in was easy to see from the roof tops, she could have enjoyed the view until the sun set if she really wanted to, but right now, leaving was the only thing on her mind, she jumped to another roof and kept moving, not much farther now.

“Hey! You set up that meeting up?” 

Emily stopped on her tracks, for a moment she thought someone had been talking to her though she doubted that anyone had seen her on the roof.

“Y-yes I have…. They will meet you tomorrow night for the exchange.”

Emily looked over the edge of the rooftop to see who was talking, she could see a woman, her tall frame and long black hair made her look quite beautiful despite her slightly weathered appearance, she was definitely a guildsmen, her cloths and strong demeanor proved it, amber eyes so bright they could be mistaken for yellow shown with seemingly murderous intent.

“Good, and for goddess sake take off that cape and hood, you make us look suspicious.” 

The shorter man did as he was told, but stood under the canopy of the building they were near so Emily couldn’t see what he looked like.

“Yes my lady, also the other members wish to speak to you when you have the time.”

The woman sighed.

“Very well, I’ll speak to them tonight.”

“Yes my lady.” 

The woman walked underneath the canopy and disappeared from Emily’s hearing distance.

“Well that was odd…” 

Emily shook her head, she had spent too much time here already. She ran across the city buildings with even more speed trying to make up for lost time, she could see her target from here, she just had to make it.

She pondered a moment if she should say goodbye to the people in the lower quarter, she often spent her days reading stories to the children and cooking food, she loved being able to use her resources to give them what they needed, it was one of the few things she enjoyed about being royalty.

‘Can’t…I spent too much time as it is…’

Sadly, she passed them up over the roofs of their homes and leapt to the top of the wall that surrounded the city. Quickly she slipped past the knights on duty and scaled down the other side, she was home free.

“Ba’ul!”

Emily couldn’t have been happier to reach the large, whale like creature, the entelexeia often sat outside of the city limits as he helped Yuri travel back and forth from the Union and Empire, her plan was to get off Iiyccia then send him back, from there she would figure out where she would go, maybe just travel around awhile until she cleared her head.

“Think I can hitch a ride?”

Ba’ul made a groaning noise that most people wouldn’t have understood, but being around Judith a lot when she was younger she knew most of the time what he was saying.

“yeah I know…. It’s sudden, I just…need to leave for a little while is all... I’ll come back…. eventually.”

“You could do that.” Emily froze, there was no way of mistaking her own father’s voice.

“But it sure would upset your mom.”

Yuri walked off the ramp to the Fiertia, it still hanging from Ba’ul’s body, and gave her a knowing smile. Emily groaned.

“I knew I shouldn’t have stopped…” 

She flung her bag to the ground in defeat, her father wasn’t the kind of person to give out lectures so she wasn’t sure what he was planning to do.

“I probably still would have gotten here before you Em, your old man knows this city like the back of his hand, and I’m pretty sure I know more shortcuts then you.”

“….Yeah…” She muttered sadly leaning against the ship’s hull.

“What’s the matter? Not happy I’m the one who came to get ya? You rather your mom had?”

Emily huffed softly, no she wouldn’t have.

“I would have rathered it was uncle Flynn…. Would have been a lot easier, he and I butt heads all the time….another argument wouldn’t mean much at this point.”

Yuri let out a chuckle.

“That you do, you really drive him crazy sometimes you know.”

“Yeah… we didn’t always used to fight though…” Emily replied thoughtfully.

“Yeah… sorry kid that comes with being a lot like your dad.”

She giggled slightly, she did miss the closer relationship she had with her uncle when she was little.

“So… you were planning on stealing the ship huh?”

Emily slumped against the Fiertia at his words, she had planned on sending him back! She watched as her father sat down on the ship’s ramp then patted the spot beside him, reluctantly she did as requested and sat down next to him tucking her legs to her chest.

“So, how bout you tell me what’s really bothering you?”

Emily wouldn’t meet his gaze and fortunately he wasn’t pushing it, she took a moment to think of what to say, she hadn’t really planned on explaining herself so soon.

 

“I could… but it would sound pretty damn stupid…”

“Hmm, how bout you tell me anyway.”

She let out a sigh.

“I just… I wish I wasn’t a princess… I don’t want people bowing to me or calling me by a title, I don’t want to lead this country, I’m no leader like you and mom and uncle Flynn are… and I just feel like… I’m getting my choice in all this taken away…”

Her father looked away for a moment.

“Yeah, I get what you’re saying, kinda felt like that when I took over Brave Vesperia, and when I married your mom.”

Emily looked up surprised.

“Really? Why when you married mom?”

Yuri chuckled, his eyes looking off at the setting sun.

“Well just in case you didn’t know I wasn’t born a prince, and just like you I felt like people were forcing me into it, I wanted to marry Estelle not get all the nobleman stuff that came with it.”

“Oh, I see…” 

Emily replied, his response made sense, to this day her dad often reprimanded anyone who would say ‘your highness’ to him, mostly uncle Flynn since he knows how much it annoys him.

“But you married mom anyways so”

Yuri looked back at her smiling.

“Of course, I wasn’t going to let them stop us from being together if that’s what we wanted, I just accepted that I was gonna be stuck with the title, and that any children we had were gonna be royalty, and at some point….”

He leaned over and put his arm around her gently.

 

“They were going to have to deal with the identity crisis of having a princess for a mom and a lower quarter peasant for a dad.”

She leaned against him feeling more at ease, it wasn’t too often her dad held her but she wasn’t going to complain. She looked up at the sky as the final rays of light were starting to disappear past the horizon reminding her just how time had passed by.

“We need to go back… don’t we?” She asked looking up to him.

“Yeah well, I’m pretty sure your mom is at the end of her rope keeping the nobles in check.”

Emily chuckled.

“Yeah, I feel bad for leaving her to deal with them…”

“Just remember, your still gonna be you, no coronation is going to change that, sides there’s very little chance your gonna have to rule, at the worst your mom would take over and u know your old man isn’t dead yet either!”

Emily laughed.

“Old man, dad you barely look older than me.”

“Eh, I’ll get old one day.”

He got up and she did as well, somehow her father had eased some of her fears, she felt she could do this now, she went to get her bag when Yuri stopped her.

“Just leave it, you can always get it later, plus you need to get dressed again, don’t want your mom to see you like that.”

She laughed nervously, she had changed her cloths in her hiding place back in the royal quarter, crossing the rooftops would have been impossible in her dress.

“yeeeeaaah…. I’ll… go put my dress back on.”

As they left the ship behind Ba’ul made another groaning sound, this one sounding more hopeful then his last.

“Thanks, Ba’ul, good to know you believe in me too.”

 

He made another noise then flew off into the sky, he would place the ship in the harbor then go get some much-needed rest, meanwhile father and daughter walked the streets of Zaphias together, in no real hurry to return to the castle, the nobles would get their coronation soon enough, for now they would just enjoy walking back together, hopefully Estelle wouldn’t kill them for taking so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we got to see the Father-daughter dynamic between Yuri and Emily, i find them really fun to write together and we'll see more of it in the future, the dynamic that's not fun to write is Blare and Flynn but we'll get to that.
> 
> Anyways Thanks so much for reading! More coming soon.


	4. Adieu O Peaceful Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I'm back, it's been waaaay too long, I'm so sorry! Got a new job and things have been crazy! but chapter four is finally ready for you guys! I think you've waited long enough so imma just let you get to the story. <3

She couldn’t help it, the open air of Zaphias rooftops was where she loved being the most, especially after all the commotion from earlier that evening, as much as she hated to admit it, the coronation hadn’t been horrible though still not great, she had still managed to get through it with a smile still on her face.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_“Oh, Emily!” Her mother ran to her eyes shimmering with tears._

_“I was so worried… I’m so sorry… for pushing you like I did… you don’t… hate me do you...?”_

_Emily looked at her mom sadly, she never meant to hurt her._

_“Oh mom… of course not, I would never hate you, I was just… eh, I don’t know what I was thinking actually.” She laughed nervously knowing that wasn’t really true, but she wasn’t ready to explain it to her mom._

_Her mom hugged her and she didn’t fight it, Ioder who had come over to the group was chuckling softly._

_“So… are we ready?”_

_Emily looked at him, she was still scared but there was no running away this time, she nodded slowly looking at her dad who smiled back at her._

_“Yeah… I’m ready…_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Emily sighed, most people thought the worst part of all this was over, but to her the worst part had only just begun, her best friend was leaving for Hypionia by first morning’s light and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it! Why wouldn’t Blare stand up for herself?

 

“Damnit… just once Blare…”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_Emily stood at the throne, her Uncle Ioder gave her a reassuring smile before addressing the crowd, she probably should have payed more attention to what he was saying, but honestly thinking of something else was how she kept from crawling in her own skin at all the staring._

_“…With the sword Dein nomos I coronate Princess Emillise Vanora Heurassein Lowell as_

_A legitimate heir to the throne, in place only after her mother Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein Lowell, in the case of there being no direct heir of my own, or of my untimely death or incapacitation. Rise Princess Emillise, and receive your crown.”_

_Ioder had placed the sword on her left shoulder as he said these words, then to her right before having her rise, from somewhere in the crowd she could have sworn she heard someone snort at her last name being ‘Lowell’ rather than ‘Heurassein’, which was only confirmed by a knight quietly escorting the noble from the room._

_‘….did you HAVE to use my full name? couldn’t you have like, shortened it just a bit?’_

_She kept the thought to herself and rose to her feet as Ioder approached her and placed the silver and blue-gemmed tiara on her head, she missed the last thing he said, but she knew that everyone else in the room had begun to clap and her mom was crying joyful tears with her dad holding her, she did her best to smile at them before getting whisked away by some nobles who wanted to speak to her about her views on political matters._

_She did her best to be polite, but finally she had to tell them she really didn’t want to talk about or care much for politics which seem to dampen their spirits, on the other side of the room she saw Blare talking to her father though she didn’t seem to happy._

_“Sorry everyone, I need a break!” she quickly excused herself and made her way over to them._

_“…but… why dad?” Blare said trying her best not to sound as sad as she was._

_“ I just think that Aurnion is a much better fit for you to start out as a knight, plus it’s not very far from the capital.”_

_Blare looked downcast._

_“I see… but it’s just… I already **knew** a few of the knights in the Terris Brigade and…”_

_“I know Blare, but you’ll meet people in Aurnion, I’m sure this will be a much better start for you.”_

_“Yeah… if you say so.”_

_“Starting out is always hard, once you get there, you’ll love it.”_

_Blare nodded weakly._

_“Hey, Uncle Flynn! Hi Blare!” Emily did her best to seem upbeat as she came over to them, she knew why Blare didn’t look happy but she wasn’t going to bring it up until she could pull her away._

_“Oh, hello Emily, Blare and I were just talking about her deployment, how’s the party been for you?”_

_“Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but honestly I don’t feel like telling the nobles my stance on taxation for the rich right now…”_

_Her uncle chuckled and Blare managed to laugh as well, smiling at her gratefully. As they continued in conversation slow music began to play and guests started making their way to the dance floor, Emily knew all too well that the eligible bachelors at the party would try to ask to dance, fortunately she already had a plan for that._

_“Oh no, the music has started…” Emily looked around seemingly nervous._

_“Welp, I don’t feel like dancing with any of the many boys trying to get my hand in marriage soooo…”_

_She looked over at Blare and she started to blush._

_“I’m dancing with **you** instead!”_

_“Wait! What!?” Blare stared at her in horror as she grabbed her hand._

_“Come on, you're gonna make all the guys in here jealous of you.”_

_“Umm! I want to do that!?”_

_But by now Blare was already on the dance floor with her father looking somewhat disapprovingly but also with mirth in his eyes, as the music continued to play Emily danced her around giggling at her reaction._

_“Sorry, had to drag you away from him somehow.” Emily said winking at her._

_“Hehe yeah, thanks for that, I’m so frustrated with him right now…. He keeps getting involved in my career, it’s so aggravating …”_

_They danced slowly around the room, some of the guests and three young noblemen that had been trying to talk to her looked on in anger which only made Emily smile at them._

_“Hey, Blare? Sorry bout… what happened on the roof… I didn’t mean to be so mad at you…”_

_Blare looked sad for a second but finally smiled._

_“It’s alright, I know you mean well for me… I just… I don’t wanna disappoint him, you know? He’s so excited for me to go on my first mission… I don’t want to hurt him…”_

_“But what about what you want Blare? I mean he’s gonna be really hurt one day when he realizes you hate your job, and your gonna end up hating **him** for pushing you into it.”_

_Blare looked away for a moment as the music was beginning to end, sadness in her eyes._

_“But…I want him to be happy… I’m his only child and I know how much he wants me to follow him into knighthood….”_

_“And I want **you** to be happy… your always miserable when you're around him now cuz all he ever talks about is when you deploy, and you have hopes and dreams too, don’t you deserve to go after them?”_

_Blare looked up at her looking completely lost._

_“But… I’ve already gone so far… I can’t just back out now…”_

_“Hey… you don’t deserve to be miserable all the time cuz uncle wants to relive his glory days through you… you have your own life to live…”_

_The music ended and they slowed to a stop Blare still looking at her with uncertainty swirling in her eyes._

_“Look Emily I… if I really do hate being there after a while I’ll… I’ll try to talk to him about it…”_

_“Hey… you don’t have to do it alone, if you need support I’ll come with you just… make sure it’s what **you** want…ok?”_

_“ok…”_

_Blare hugged her and she returned it gently before Blare made her way off the floor, her orange dress disappearing in the large crowd of people. She hadn’t been able to get her to not go, but at least she had made some progress with her, that had to count for something, right?_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Emily sighed as she stopped on the rooftop across from where the public quarter crossed over into the lower quarter, from where she stood she could easily see all the shops and stalls that littered the ground below her, just a short walk down the stone rampway and everything changed from bustling shopping to the quieter but just as busy lower quarter community, smiling at the familiar sight, she was about to keep moving on when she heard a voice she vaguely recognized.

 

“You have what I asked for?”             

 

 

“Yes indeed, our first working sample, I think you’ll like what you see.”

 

 

Emily quietly peered over the edge of the roof to the side street below, this time of night there wouldn’t be anyone nearby other than her, it was the perfect place for some rather illegal dealings.

 

 

“I’m sure I will, also forgive moving this meeting up a day, my guild is rather eager to see real results.”

 

 

“No trouble at all, we are more than glad to accommodate you, after all your covering the bill for this research.”

 

 

Emily looked on surprised, it was the same woman she had seen earlier that day, along with someone she didn’t recognize, the two seemed to be looking at something that at first appeared to be jewelry, a silver necklace with a large blue stone in the middle, where had she seen something like this before…

 

_‘Wait…. Is that… a blastia…?’_

“Beautiful, but does it work?” 

 

 

The guild woman asked placing it around her neck with a small clicking sound. She stood a moment and a brilliant blue light appeared under her feet, it’s intricate lines and patterns left Emily in awe, she had only ever seen the Arte diagram in books.

 

“Oh, beautiful indeed.” The woman let the spell fizzle out and the diagram disappeared from sight.

 

“I’m so glad you're pleased with our work Miss Savino, we have worked very hard on this and I believe the results are quite promising, we are still working on making an apatha large enough to run a barrier, but once we do you’ll be the first to know.”

 

“Good to hear, this will please my guild as well.”

 

Emily almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing, her mother loved nothing more then to tell her the history of what life was like before the blastia were gone, and she knew for a fact that blastia and their usage was forbidden in the empire after the age of The Adephagos had ended, how one even existed, however, was what she really wanted to know.

 

‘Well… can’t let her leave with it, who knows what she might do.’

 

Decision made, Emily leapt from the low hanging roof to the street below, sword in hand and ready to fight, for a moment the woman had been startled but she quickly regained her composer.

 

“Hmm… Didn’t anyone ever tell you about minding your own business?”

 

It was obvious she didn’t see Emily as any kind of threat, it was time to make her re-think her stance.

 

“Blastia are illegal lady, I’m not going to let you leave this city with one.”

 

“Oh, you’re not, are you?” She stopped a moment, recognition appearing on her face.

 

“Ahh, so you’re the guildsmen’s brat, princess Emily I believe? I don’t think your royal highness belongs on the streets at this hellish hour.”

 

Anger bubbled inside her but Emily held it down, she eyed the man behind her coldly making him flinch, he was much shorter than the woman and cowered behind her like some kind of weasel, he ran his fingers through is his graying and balding hair nervously as he struggled to speak.

 

“P-please Miss Savino … ther-there’s no need to fight….”

 

“Oh, I think there is, leave Sorbel, I’ll handle the guild princess.”

 

The man named Sorbel didn’t argue, quickly he ran from the alleyway nearly stumbling as he did. Emily, however, didn’t have time to worry about him as Savino swung her sword unexpectedly, she dodged somersaulting out of the way, after a moment however she realized she felt the smallest trickle of blood dripping from her left cheek.

 

“Pay attention girl, or I’ll end you, here and now.” She smiled and it sent a shiver down Emily’s spine, she suddenly felt she was in over her head.

 

It was too late to back out now.

 

With lightning speed Savino was on top of her, with barely enough time to block her attack with her sword Emily shoved her away with all her strength and flipped out of the way of the next one, ducking and dodging rather than fighting, she wanted a chance to learn her fight style, it was quick and ruthless, somehow it seemed to fit her rather heartless demeanor.

 

“So…” Savino stopped suddenly, another smile on her face.

 

“You’re not as foolish as I would have thought you to be.”

 

“Ah thanks, I do my best.”

 

“Well child, as much as I would love to keep this little game going I have work to do….”

 

The ground began to glow orange and another diagram appeared under feet.

 

“I’m afraid I can’t have you knowing parts of my plan, it’s too bad really, your parents will have to bury you…. SPIRAL FLARE.”

 

_‘oh for the love of-‘_

 

Emily only had seconds to get out of the way, grabbing a nearby pipe she desperately climbed up just high enough that the fire spell missed her, letting out a sigh of relief she got onto the roof and hid away.

 

“What’s the matter, princess?”

 

Savino called out as Emily hid behind the roofs’ smoke stack.

 

 “I thought you weren’t going to let me leave this city with my contraband.”

 

Damn, that’s right she couldn’t leave that dangerous thing in her hands, no matter how terrified she had just become from the seemingly alien device, she had seen spirit magic used before, several of her friends had partners after all, but the blastia was different and far more powerful, she didn’t want to think about what this guild woman planned to do with such a weapon.

 

 

Taking a deep breath, Emily sprinted from her hiding place and jumped from the current roof to a lower one she could jump to street level from. She was going to have to be fast, fortunately living with a guildsman had its perks, she had spent many days when she was little with members of the thieves guild and she figured it was time she put what she learned into practice.

 

Locating Savino, she dropped from the low hanging roof to the streets below, quickly she dashed from a pile of crates and toward her with all her speed, passing her just as the Guild women turned to face her.

 

“Ahh, there you are, I was beginning to think I’d lost you…”

 

Spinning around to face her, Emily took a moment to catch her breath.

 

“Yeah? Sorry about that, I just reaaally needed a snack break.

 

“ Your quips aren’t going to save you from me.” Savino began to concentrate only to realize that no spell was forming.

 

“Yeah, your probably right, however…” Holding up her hand Emily revealed the blastia necklace Savino had just been wearing, the dark blue jewel glimmered in the half light of the moon as Emily smiled at her.

 

“I feel like having this will at least level the playing field a bit.”

 

“How did you-” Annoyance turning into anger, and Savino’s eyes shrunk to tiny slits as she looked over at Emily.

 

“I’m giving you one chance to give that back to me girl.” She reached out her hand calmly.

 

“Don’t make me pry it from your dead body.”

 

“Uh, yeah … Imma say no to that? Just cuz I don’t trust you with this thing. Hope you understand.”

 

Savino dropped her arm to her side.

 

“Very well then, we’ll do this the hard way.”

 

Like lightning she dashed for Emily catching her slightly off guard, she knew she was fast but she hadn’t expected that much speed, fortunately, she was quick as well and quickly bolted from the side street to one of the main streets of the lower quarter. Her father had often told her that if she ever found herself in a fight where she was out of her league to always get the hell out of there, no sense of duty, pride or stubbornness should keep you in a fight you won’t win, it was good advice and Emily planned to use it.

 

“Come back here!”

 

Savino was hot on her trail but Emily knew exactly where she was going, she ran through the empty streets making her way to the public quarter, jumping and running past stalls and shops, quickly she crossed the large bridge that connected the public quarter to the royal quarter and grabbed a nearby pipe, she wasn’t going to risk trying to climb the stairs, she crossed the roof just as Savino caught up to her and jumped down into the royal quarter.

 

“I… am sick and tired of you princess-“ Savino stopped, realizing why Emily had come here, she ran after with even more speed but Emily was quicker, slick and nimble she scaled the high fence that protected the castle and landed on the other side, now on royal grounds any more attempts Savino made would gain the attention of Flynn’s guard, something Savino didn’t want.

 

“Hmm, alright then Emily, I’ll let you win this round.”

 

“Let me? Oh, you’re telling me you weren’t really trying?”

 

Savino’s sudden laughter caused her to jump as she calmly grabbed the fence.

 

“Be proud of yourself princess, I underestimated you, that is a mistake I won’t make twice, I assure you.”

 

A lone noble that happened to be taking a late-night walk went past them and Savino stepped away.

 

“Have a good night Emily.” Her voice was chilling, and it took everything Emily had not the shiver, slowly with that murderous glint her eyes, The Guildswoman walked away disappearing into the night.

 

_‘Okay… you just made a very scary enemy… great…’_

 

Sighing, Emily looked at the silver and blue gemmed Blastia again, how could something so small cause so much trouble? And just who was that woman? Or the person she was with, from the sounds of it, he had plans to make more than what he had shown her tonight.

 

Sighing again and feeling way in over her head, Emily made her way into the castle from a second story window, she didn’t feel like having the guards asking her questions, one thing was for sure, she was going to need her parents and uncles help for this, and she hoped it wasn’t as bad as the odd feeling in her stomach was telling her it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, there you go! some flash backs that give you a better idea of how Emily and Blare get along, as well as a look at Savino, she's going to be back that's a promise. Also, it's been so long since I've played the game it hard to write about the places ;-; but I'm working on it! if you like the story Plz give it a kudos I'd love to know what you think and comment too! love ya all. <3


	5. In Remembrance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally done! this chapter anyways XD longest one i've written so far, enjoy! <3

Emily strode through the halls of the royal castle with purpose, the silver blastia still held tightly in her hand, she would never sleep tonight if she didn’t get an idea of what she was dealing with and for that she would need to go to the people that actually knew about blastia.

 

Ducking down hallways and speeding past corners, she earned more than one strange look from the night shift guards as she practically ran past them, she was moving so quickly that she didn’t see Sodia until it was too late.

 

With a loud thud, they ran into each other landing ungracefully on the marble floor.

 

“By the goddess Emily! Be more careful!” Sodia complained as she slowly made it to her feet gingerly rubbing her rear.

 

“Sorry!” Emily got up much faster grabbing the blastia necklace that had flung and hit the wall a few feet away.

 

“I’m in a hurry! Uncle Flynn is still up, isn’t he?”

 

Sodia looked at her with a curious expression.

 

“This is _him_ we’re talking about, of **course** he’s still awake.”

 

If Emily hadn’t been in such a hurry she probably would have laughed at her response.

 

“Great, could you get my mom and dad and have them meet me at his office? It’s important!”

 

“Emily sweetie, it’s two AM…. What’s going on?”

 

“I’ll explain when you get there!”

 

Emily didn’t wait for her response, instead she turned another corner and made her way to the commandant’s office, the two large, blue and ivory doors made it an easy find, not that she would need it, she had been here hundreds of times during her childhood, there were days when she had been really little that she would sit at the foot of Flynn’s desk pretending to sign off on some important document.

 

She had really looked up to him then.

 

Now a days however they seemed to do nothing but argue, conversations turning into heated shouting matches, she honestly wasn’t sure how most fights even happened, it could be as simple as an offhand comment she would make, or him thinking she wasn’t taking something he was saying seriously enough and all of a sudden they were fighting, it didn’t help that Emily wasn’t the kind of person to back down from a fight either, so arguments could last hours if they were left to it.

 

One fight had gotten so angry and heated that Yuri had actually stepped in to stop it, which was something her father almost never did. He was of the mind that Emily had to fight her own battles, which she was fine with, but that day the fighting was so bad that he just couldn’t take it anymore.

 

_“Flynn, I swear if you don’t back down, the next fight your gonna have today is gonna be with me.”_

 

For a moment, it had looked like uncle Flynn was going to take him up on that threat, however after a moment of Yuri staring him down Flynn finally walked away.

 

It had to do with Blare joining the knights.

 

Emily sighed standing in front of her uncle’s office, she hoped she could talk to him without another fight breaking out, she loved Flynn but it often felt like she was talking to a wall rather than the uncle she grew up admiring.

 

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, she had far more important things to worry about tonight, taking a deep breath, she slowly swung the doors open and walked inside.

 

Flynn was at his desk as he normally was, reading over what seemed to be a very large document that spanned over a small stack of papers, he had them neatly sorted from what he had read already to what he had yet to go over, she couldn’t help but remember stealing a page from his work as a kid just to get his attention, a secret she had quickly shared with Blare.

 

“Ah, Emily.” He calmly greeted, taking off his reading glasses and setting them on the desk.

 

The commandant’s office had changed a lot over the years, it looked nothing like the pictures that still hung in the castle from during the former commandant’s reign, everything from the layout to the color scheme had been redone to represent Flynn’s White and blue, stamping out the old red that the royal guard had once wore. Emily remembered her father telling her once that Flynn had been reluctant at first to make the place his own, over time however the need to remove his predecessor’s influence from the castle had become too great, and honestly Flynn deep down wanted and needed people to remember that he was commandant now, all of Alexie’s treachery forgotten.

 

“Hi uncle Flynn, I need to talk to you… it’s important.”

 

Flynn rose an eye brow and got up from his desk to stretch, before finally looking back at her curiously.

 

“It’s rather late Emily, can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

 

“That’s what Sodia said as well, I know it’s late but I wouldn’t bother if I didn’t think I should tell you now.”

 

She sighed, sometimes she felt like she was still ten with all the adults trying to tell her she was overreacting.

 

“Alright, alright, so what’s the matter? You don’t normally come to me when something’s wrong anymore…” He sounded sad at that, but quickly recovered.

 

“So, I guess that this is very important to you.”

 

If only he understood, she thought sadly, exactly why she had stopped coming to him about her problems maybe he wouldn’t sound so upset about it.

 

“Well, I would tell you but I’m waiting for mom and dad to get here, they should hear this to.”

 

For a moment, it seemed that Flynn was going to say something, but then decided against it, instead he took off his metal gauntlets and put them away, it seemed at the very least she’d gotten him to quit working for the night, which was always a plus.

 

“Found them.” Sodia said calmly as she came into the office.

 

 “Your father however is never hard to find.” Sodia said with a chuckle as Yuri and Estelle came in after her.

 

“Yeah yeah I know, giant castle and I still sit in the same place I always do, sorry I don’t make it more exciting for you.”

 

“At two in the morning? No thanks I’m fine with you being easy to find.”

 

Sodia stood off to the side waiting for the explanation as to why they were having a meeting this late at night.

 

“Emily…?” Estelle yawned rubbing her eyes of sleep.

 

“What’s going on dear? Has something happened?”

 

Emily frowned.

 

“I’m sorry mom, were you asleep?”

 

“She nodded off in the library.” Sodia said with a smile.

 

“I was… only going to read one more chapter…” She paused, yawning again.

 

“But I’m still confused, what’s going on?”

 

Emily took a deep breath, everyone was here and she hoped ready to listen to what she had to say, and by everyone she meant her uncle but that was beside the point. She made a point of shutting the double doors to the Commandant’s office as to keep out prying eyes and ears before she began.

 

“So, I was wandering around the rooftops near the lower quarter and I overheard these two-people talking, apparently one of them, the guy, is a scientist, he gave the other one this.”

 

Emily placed the necklace on Flynn’s desk, and for a moment the whole room was silent.

 

“Yuri…. You…you don’t think it’s actually….?” Estelle looked up at him in shock.

 

“Well, I don’t think Emily brought us here to look at glorified jewelry…”

 

Flynn picked up the blastia and looked it over slowly, as if trying to find some way to prove it wasn’t real. After a moment or two he handed it over to Sodia to inspect as well.

 

“The question is, is it actually real or is someone selling fake blastia in hopes of profit?” Flynn watched as Sodia put the necklace on and concentrated, at first, she got nothing in response.

 

“It’s been so long… I barely know how to activate them anymore…”

 

She tried again, this time a soft blue glow developed under her feet, gasping she lost control of the spell, and just as quickly as it had appeared the glow was gone.

 

“remarkable….” She whispered, sounding in awe.

 

“Looks like it’s real alright.” Yuri stated calmly.

 

“Seems like it…” Flynn sat back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

 

“I don’t even know what to do with _that_ right now… now mind explaining to me how you got this Emily?”

 

Flynn was giving her a pointed look and it took everything she had not to shiver under his glare.

 

“What do you mean? I took it from them of course, blastia are illegal in Zaphias, no way was I going to let them leave with it, who knows what they planned on doing…”

 

Flynn sighed.

 

“You’re not an imperial knight Emily, you can’t just go around dealing justice down on people, I won’t have you doing it while I’m on watch that’s for sure, why didn’t you get a knight on patrol to handle the situation?”

 

Angered but still trying to keep her cool Emily let out of small huff.

 

“There weren’t any for one… I hadn’t seen any patrols all night come to think of it…. And even if I had they could have up and disappeared by the time I got them.”

 

Flynn frowned as he took in this information.

 

“I wonder who they were….” Estelle wondered out loud as she sleepily leaned against her husband.

 

“I don’t know mom…. But I know they’re planning something bigger then this necklace, they said something about barrier blastia as well…. That guildswoman is apparently funding them.”

 

“That might be so but you’re a princess Emily, you’re supposed to leave the law to the knights, I’m not even starting on how you took evidence without a warrant and assaulted two people without any proof as to wrong dealings.”

 

Emily folded her arms, she had had enough of her uncle criticizing what she did.

 

“Oh, and I supposed if Uncle Ioder had done this you would be having the same conversation with him, right? Because telling the Emperor what to do would go over really well.”

 

“That’s beside the point Emily, you can’t simply take the law into your hands like that. Honestly-” Flynn was cut off by Yuri.

 

“Honestly Flynn, it’s too late at night to be complaining, she just brought you an ancient relic that shouldn’t exist and an apparent conspiracy to mass produce them, let’s stick with that alright?”

 

Flynn’s glare didn’t wavier but he said nothing else on the subject.

 

“In any case…. I’ll be taking that, we need to find out what it’s made of and why it even works. If they have found a way to produce blastia then it could be beneficial to the future, or perhaps they’re doing it by illegal means which is why their being so quiet about it.”

 

 

Emily grasped the blastia to her chest, she had no intension of giving it back to her uncle, she was going to have to figure this out on her own.

 

“Hey! How did you get that back?” Sodia looked at her both surprised and a bit irritated that it was no longer in her possession.

 

“Oh this? Eh, I have my ways.”

 

“Emily…” Flynn muttered.

 

“How about…” Yuri said thoughtfully, stepping in.

 

“You take that to your aunt Rita? She’s the expert on blastia, if anyone can tell us why it works it’s her.”

 

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!”  Estelle exclaimed.

 

“You haven’t seen her in a while, it’ll be a great chance to catch up with her as well.”

 

Seeming to feel outnumbered Flynn looked over at Sodia who simply shook her head.

 

“…Very well.” He sighed, shoving his finished paperwork not to gently into his desk drawer.

 

“But I want to hear what you find as soon as  you get the information.”

 

“Fine by me.” Emily smiled, at least they managed to get through this without fighting though that was mostly because her father had stepped in, but she was willing to take that for now.

 

Deciding to take her leave before he changed his mind she quickly went for the double doors when her father stopped her short.

 

“Hey Blare is leaving tomorrow, isn’t she?”

 

“Yeah… early morning, why?”

 

“Why not take her with you, she has a few days before she goes on duty, you can go visit Rita and have her dropped off at Aurnion in plenty of time.”

 

Flynn was about to protest but Sodia shook her head again, Flynn sighed.

 

“Fine, but she better get to Aurnion on time.”

 

“Come on Flynn, Blare’s eighteen, I’m pretty sure she’s mature enough to make sure she gets to her role call.”

 

Flynn rolled his eyes at the statement but said nothing on the contrary.

 

Emily however was long gone, making her way down the hallways to her own bedroom, she would thank her father properly tomorrow for everything, not only had he gotten Flynn to let her keep the necklace so she could find out how it worked but she was even going to have Blare to come with her, at least they could hang out for a few more precious days.

 

As happy as she was though, Savino’s words echoed in her mind, preventing her from sleep, whoever the woman was she meant business and honestly Emily wasn’t so sure she could take her in a fight if she had to, she also had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to let her small victory over her tonight stand.

 

She sighed and rolled over to turn the light off for probably the fourth time, she was going to be tired in the morning, there was no getting around it, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

“I can’t believe Uncle Yuri actually got my dad to let me go with you! He’s amazing.”

 

Blare grabbed her second suit case, the first one had everything she needed for her deployment, but she decided to bring a few more things just in case.

 

“Yeah, I was pretty amazed myself, then again, my dad rarely argues with him anymore, I’m guessing when he does speak up against him it holds more weight to it.”

 

“Yeah, I suppose so, speaking of which where is your dad? I thought he said he was going to meet us at the ship?”

 

“Hmm your right he did say that…”

 

Estelle popped her head in Blare’s doorway, giving them a sad smile.

 

“There you are Emily, I know your busy with what’s going on, but before you leave you might want to go to the gardens, that’s where your father is.”

 

Emily looked at her, realization crossing her face.

 

“Oh no… I forgot it’s today…”

 

“I did to, I’m sorry Auntie Estelle…”

 

Estelle shook her head.

 

“Don’t be girls, there’s been a lot going on, I think he would appreciate it if you go visit him before you go however.”

 

“Alright mom, thanks for reminding us.”

 

Estelle nodded and quietly left the room, it was silent for a few minutes as Blare got her final belongings and was ready to leave.

 

“You go to him Emily, I think he’d be happier if it was just you.”

 

“You sure? I mean… we both miss him…”

 

“Yeah, I’m sure, I’ll be at the Fiertia if you need me.”

 

Emily hugged her.

 

“Thanks Blare.”

 

“Anytime.”

 

The pair made their way through the castle and out into the courtyard where they parted ways, Emily pasted the main gardens where visitors to the castle were allowed to come and view the flowers, this time of year however the main attraction was the beautiful autumn trees, alongside the rose bushes that got people from all over the world to travel there.

 

Farther in were the private gardens that only the royal family had access to, there her mother tended her Mayla roses and Fire lilies, statues of the former children of the full stood proudly sat at the four corners of the place, and most importantly, where members of the royal family were buried in the royal mausoleum.

 

That however wasn’t her destination, instead she went past the large stone building where her ancestors were kept and went up the hillside behind it, there was a large tree, said to be the same species as the tree of Halure, though no one was entirely sure if this was true, at its base stood a small gravestone, a humble yet beautiful place to be buried.

 

“Rest easy buddy…”

 

She heard her father as she came up the hillside, at the top she watched quietly as Yuri carefully wrapped a large chain around the grave, she knew it very well.

 

“Hey dad…”

 

Yuri got up from where he had been kneeling and gave her a warm smile.

 

“Hey Em, your mom didn’t send you out here to be melancholy with me, did she?”

 

Emily chuckled.

 

“Nah, she _did_ gently remind me though.”

 

“Hmm, sounds like she sent you out here to be melancholy to me.”

 

“It’s alright, I miss him to after all.”

 

“Yeah…” Yuri looked at the small gravestone sadly.

 

“I remember how protective he was of you when you were growing up, never had to worry bout you with him around.”

 

Emily hugged herself sadly.

 

“Yeah, Repede was my adventure buddy, only reason I probably didn’t hurt myself more to be honest.”

 

Yuri chuckled.

 

“Oh, I bet, you never bothered to think about that what you were up to was dangerous, you just jumped in head first.”

 

Yuri stretched and turned to face her.

 

“Be careful out there alright? Your mom would never forgive me if you don’t come home.”

 

She smiled at him, she knew what he was **really** saying, _‘I’d never forgive myself if you don’t come home.’_

“I’ll be careful dad, I’m not as crazy as I used to be.”

 

He nodded at her then turned back toward the grave, he took the pipe that Repede always carried in his mouth out of his pocket and placed it at its base, it would stay there overnight, then he would come to gather his belongings in the morning, he could never bring himself to bury them with his faithful pooch, after all, the chain and pipe were all her father had left of him now.

 

“Alright, enough cryin’, you have a journey to start, can’t be holding you up here.”

 

“Journey? Dad we’re only going to NewAspio not traveling the world.”

 

He laughed.

 

“We’ll see, come on, let’s not keep Blare waiting any longer.”

 

 

They left the quiet gravesite behind, and after saying goodbye to her mother she finally boarded the ship, Ba’ul proudly holding on to it.

 

“Seeya dad!”

 

“Bye Uncle Yuri!”

 

“Seeya girls, Tell Rita to get her ass out of her shop sometime and come visit already!”

 

Emily couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“We will!”

 

She couldn’t help but think there was a strange sadness that was surrounding her father as they got farther away from the ground, though if there was he was hiding it well.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

“Man, I can’t believe this is my first time leaving the capital on my own.”

 

Emily swung her legs over the edge of the Fiertia aimlessly, she always found it funny that her father, and the guild as a whole could afford a much nicer ship, but the memories that had been made here kept it in service even if it was a bit cramped for a guild their size.

 

That being said they did technically have two other ships they shared with the thieves’ guild.

 

“So, Emily… who do think that woman was you were telling me about?”

 

Emily sighed.

 

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling she’s no small-time guild boss… I really don’t like what’s she’s up to… and I’m scared to find out how they managed to make this.”

 

Emily tapped the blue gem on the Blastia necklace for emphasis.

 

“I am to… I really hope Auntie Rita can tell us more about it… maybe once I go on duty I can help you find out more about them?”

 

“Maybe… I really wish you would re-consider going though, you still have a chance to just tell him no.”

 

Blare shook her head.

 

“He’ll just think I’m coping out cuz I’m scared, he won’t understand my reasons…”

 

“Then _make_ him understand…”

 

“You’ve talked to him Emily; do you really think that’s an option?”

 

Emily’s shoulders slumped slightly, sometimes she really hated her uncle.

 

“I don’t know… we should probably get some rest, we won’t get to NewAspio until morning.”

 

“Yeah, your right…”

 

Blare yawned and turned to head into the ship’s interior.

 

“I’m tired anyways, you coming?”

 

“I’ll catch up in a sec.”

 

Blare nodded and left Emily with her thoughts, she couldn’t shake the feeling something was going to go horribly wrong, despite it only being a small trip to visit their aunt, The Guildswoman’s words still seem to echo in her mind even as she finally made her way down to the cabins to sleep.

 

_“Be proud of yourself princess, I underestimated you, that is a mistake I won’t make twice, I assure you.”_

She won’t make it twice, meaning she planned on clashing with Emily again, sighing and wondering just what mess she was getting herself into, she attempted to sleep, for now she needed to focus on finding out what this new blastia was made of, then she could worry about Savino.


	6. The City of New Aspio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm back! Sorry this chapter took so long, I had some serious writer's block when trying to design New Aspio, but it's finally done! hope you enjoy this chapter and hopefully ill get chapter seven out a bit faster ^.^

“Hey Emily!”

 

The sound of her friend yelling for her woke Emily from her somewhat restless slumber, she jerked up with a start, nearly falling out of the top bunk in the lower cabin and took a moment to catch her breath.

 

“Emily! Come one we’re here!”

 

Oh _, that’s_ why Blare was so eager to wake her up.

 

_‘Sheesh, you could’ve like, shook me awake or something…’_

Emily made her way up to the deck where the bright sun blinded her for a moment, after splashing her face with some water to wake up she went to the ship’s edge where Blare was looking down.

 

NewAspio had been built in the Shaikos Ruins several months after the Adephagos was defeated, most of the mages agreed it seemed like the best place to start again being the place was often used as the first research site that up and coming mages were given to explore.

 

“Man, it’s expanded a lot since I was last here.”

 

Emily stood on the ship’s railing, hanging by one of the long ropes that came off from the mast.

 

“Emily! Be careful! What if you lose your grip!?”

 

Emily laughed.

 

“You jump roofs with me but think _this_ is dangerous? Come one Blare.”

 

Blare huffed, crossing her arms.

 

“We started that when we’re _both_ more reckless, plus the roofs aren’t that high in the capital unless we start jumping in the royal quarter.”

 

“I guess not, since you dropped me off one.”

 

“I knew there was something under you to break your fall!”

 

“Ahh yes, piles and piles of trash bags, my favorite.”

 

Blare glared at her but said nothing and Emily couldn’t help but think she had her father’s stone-cold stare, her crystalline blue eyes probably had something to do with that.

 

Ba’ul landed outside the city limits and let them off, they planned to stay the night if Rita didn’t mind then be off in the morning, to where they weren’t sure yet but for the time being they wanted to find out what made the odd necklace work as a blastia.

 

“Woah…”

 

Emily marveled at the giant ceiling that covered the entire city, plates known as ‘MordioPanels’ gathered up the rays of the sun to use as power to run everything in the city, everything from lightening to heat was run using the energy gathered from the ceiling panels, it was an amazing concept, one that was currently being considered for the capital as well.

 

“It’s pretty amazing, right?”

 

Blare walked over to the guard watching over the city gates and showed him her passport.

 

“It sure is, wait you’ve seen this already?”

 

Emily nodded at the guard, she didn’t need a passport to enter, being a princess sometimes did have its perks.

 

“Yes, I came here about two years ago with dad, it was when it was first being approved for use.”

 

“I’m guessing it was ‘ _good_ _experience’_ for you?”

 

Emily said doing her best imitation of her uncle’s tone of voice. Blare giggled softly at her antics.

 

“Yeaaaa… that’s basically what he said.”

 

“That’s what I thought.”

 

The pair walked the pathways of the city, designed to look like what the mages believe the ruins would look like modern day, the place had an ancient feel, made of pure stone and hand carved archways as well as metal street lights, it was a far cry from what the old city had once been.

 

“There it is.”

 

Blare pointed to one of the buildings, made of half stone and half wood, the structure was rather unique from the rest on the street with an odd cyan crystal sticking out of its roof, and with the metal plating around the sides there was no mistaking their aunt’s shop.

 

“There’s a message on the door.”

 

Emily walked up to the large metal door that was at the front of the building and inspected the letter.

 

“Busy working on something important. Don’t bother us, seriously. Mordio.”

 

“Oh dear… guess we can’t visit them right now then.”

 

Emily gave Blare an odd look,

 

“Well I’m not standing here til there done with their ‘something important’. You can wait here if you want.”

 

“Where are you going Emily!?”

 

“Inside, where else?”

 

Emily walked around the shop to its side where a small wooden entryway was, it was locked but that wasn’t about to stop her.

 

“Welp, time to be a thief.”

 

“Emily!”

 

Blare hissed looking around nervously, she wouldn’t want to explain to anyone why they were breaking in.

 

“Calm down, I got this.”

 

It took Emily only a moment to pick the lock, a skill she had learned from both members of the thieves’ guild as well as her father.

 

Though she had to admit her father did have her promise to only use it if she had to.

 

Oops.

 

“Well… too late now.”

 

Quietly she opened the door and went inside, From the moment they walked in there was machinery everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling sending out soft hums and buzzes throughout the shop, Emily couldn’t help but remember how much they used to scare her growing up, she always had this stupid fear that one of gadgets would leap off the wall and come after her.  
  
Perhaps the fact that most of them had faces and glowing eyes was the reason behind that.

 

“Honestly Emily! We could have knocked!”

 

Blare whispered loudly as they walked from the back of the shop toward the front.

 

“We would have been waiting there for hours if we knocked, you know how they get when their working on something.”

 

“Well that’s true… but still…”

 

“Hey! Bring me the immersion wrench will ya?”

 

They both froze at the voice.

 

“Sure thing!”

 

It probably would have been best to make themselves known then and there but it was too late, before Emily could say anything she was run over, tumbling backwards onto the floor.

 

“Oww…”

 

“Ack!!! Robbers!!! Cold embrace be with you! Frostbite!!!”

 

“Pepper no! it’s us!”

 

Emily had to roll out of the way of the ice spell, running into one of the robots on the wall causing it to fall on top of her.

 

This wasn’t her day apparently, then again, she had to admit she had brought it on herself.

 

“Wait… Emily!? Blare to!!!? HI! What are you guys doing here?”

 

Emily yanked herself out from under the dormant robot and coughed out oil, as she did she couldn’t help but give Blare a cold look, rather than jump in to help her had opted to stay in the far corner of the room where she was out of the way of what was going on.

 

“Sheesh Blare you could’ve done something ya know!”

 

“And get my toes frozen off? No thanks I’m good where I am, told you we should have knocked.”

 

Emily snorted but said nothing.

 

“Oh… sorry bout that! You scared me!

 

A small, Turquoise colored creature appeared at her shoulder, seeming to hum in agreement, it was an odd-looking spirit, being it was a squishy triangle with no other defining features other then it could float around on its own.

 

“Yeah, sorry Pepper, we didn’t mean to intrude.”

 

Blare said sincerely.

 

“I’m pretty sure we meant to.”

 

Emily retorted as she dusted off her light green shirt and white pants, perhaps not the best thing to wear on a trip like this.

 

“Well I’m glad you’re here! I haven’t seen you guys in forever!”

 

The younger girl said happily, Pepper had short reddish-brown hair much like her mother, but more well-kept, she wore a dark red shirt with long sleeves and a black skirt with red patterns on it, she also wore black leggings and red boots much like her mom did.

 

“Hey, what happened to that wrench? Oh, hey girls, your late.”

 

Emily and Blare looked at each other.

 

“Late!?”

 

“Yup, Yuri sent me a message over the SicliGraph two nights ago, said you’d be coming around, should have been here this morning, slowpokes.”

 

“Aww, come on Auntie Rita! We slept in!” Emily protested.

 

“You mean _you_ slept in, I on the other hand was awake at six.”

 

Emily rolled her eyes.

 

“As if that should surprise anyone _private_ scifo.”

 

Blare huffed slightly at her title.

 

“Don’t call me that Emily, it sounds weird coming from you.”

 

“Hey that _is_ your rank though.”

 

“And what if I start flinging titles around? _Your highness_ …”

 

Emily was about to say something to that but she was cut off

 

“Alright you two, how about you tell me why we’re getting the sudden visit?”

 

The pair brought their attention back to Rita.

 

“Well auntie, this is why.”

 

Emily took the silver necklace from her satchel bag and handed it Rita, for a moment her hands hovered over it as if she was waiting for the joke, waiting for them to laugh and tell her it was just a necklace and they managed to pull a fast one on her.

 

When the moment didn’t come Rita gingerly placed it in the palm of her hand, carefully she brought it up to the ceiling light and looked it over in awe.

 

“It…it can’t be through…”

 

“It works auntie, but we don’t know why… we’re hoping you can tell us how this blastia exists.”

 

Reluctantly Rita slipped the necklace around her neck and began to concentrate, everyone watched as a light-green digital screen appeared in front of her causing them to jump slightly in surprise.

 

“So it _does_ have an interface… “

 

Words and information ran across the screen far quicker then Emily or Blare could comprehend, Emily could barely make out: **_‘Running Formula Zeretta’ ‘Formula running correctly’ ‘Usage of lost soul Yayla at 3%’_** going past with calculations that went over her head.

 

Usage of lost soul? What did that mean?

 

“I’ve always wanted to study a real blastia…”

 

Pepper watched as Rita tried to sift through the information, amazement clear on her face, Emily knew how much she wanted to a famous blastia researcher like her mother had been when she was younger, now faced with an actual relic it was obvious that Pepper was barely holding in her excitement.

 

“Well, this isn’t like any blastia I’ve ever researched… I mean it has a great deal of the core elements and structure of one but… there something that’s different, I’ll need to go over this data before I can tell you anything for sure.”

 

“I’ll help!”

 

Pepper Cried, practically jumping in place.

 

“Now Pepper, you know when I work on something like this I gotta do it alone, otherwise I’ll never be able to concentrate.”

 

Pepper deflated and Rita frowned in response.

 

“hey, doesn’t mean you can’t look it over yourself once I’m done, right? You should come to your own conclusions anyways.”

 

Pepper was happy all over again, it amazed Emily just how much energy the girl had in her.

 

“Great, maybe you can show us around the city while we wait Pepper?”

 

Pepper smiled broadly at Blare’s suggestion.

 

“Sure thing! A lot has changed in the last few months! Your gonna’ love it!”

 

Pepper ran off without them causing them both to chuckle and Rita to shake her head, she really did have a lot of energy.

 

“Honestly, she’s _way_ peppier then I was at fifteen.”

 

With another shake of her head Rita went back to work, and Emily and Blare turned to leave the workshop when Rita stopped them short.

 

“Wait up a sec.”

 

“Yeah Auntie?”

 

Rita opened her workbench drawer and pulled out a small metal device, it made a strange whirring kind of sound and glowed softly blue, it was just small enough to fit in Emily’s palm and was surprising warm to the touch.

 

“Here ya go, it’s a Mordio pager, once I find out some important information for you I’ll use the pager to let ya know.”

 

Emily smiled at her warmly, trusting her with tech wasn’t something her aunt used to do when she was younger, it was nice to know she felt differently about it now.

 

“Thanks Auntie, we better go, or we’ll _never_ find Pepper.”

 

Rita chucked and resumed sifting through the data the blasita had offered her, Emily watched her for a moment longer before Blare called to her from the doorway, quickly placing the pager in her pocket they left to catch up with their younger friend.

 

They found her waiting for them near a lamppost that stood at the end of the stone pathway to the shop, her spirit friend floating around her as she waved to them.

 

“Come on guys! Hurry up or me and Valor will leave ya behind!”

 

“We’re coming!”

 

Blare called back as they she shut the door to the workshop and followed Emily down the path.

 

“Speaking of spirits… where’s yours? shouldn’t he be with you right now?”

 

Blare looked a little sad at the question.

 

“Galileo is already in Aurnion…”

 

Emily stared.

 

“What? But aren’t spirits and their partners not supposed to be apart for long?”

 

“Not normally no… but remember Emily I was supposed to head straight there… so it didn’t seem a problem at the time… dad wanted him to get used to being there, so he could help me settle in once I arrived.”

 

Emily folded her arms with an odd expression on her face.

 

“Sounds more like he sent him there to make sure you didn’t back out of it to me…”

 

“It’s not like he knows I don’t want to do this though Emily…”

 

“At least that’s what we’re _led_ to believe…”

 

“Stop it, he’s not like that, he’s just… overprotective.”

 

“Oh, he’s that alright… and a bit manipulative.”

 

Blare was giving her that same stone-cold stare.

 

“He’s. Not. Like. That.”

 

Emily threw her hands up in defeat, she didn’t want to fight with Blare again, not after the incident on the roof, plus Pepper was looking at them worriedly and she really didn’t want her to be worried about them.

 

“Alright, alright, you win, let’s go have fun ok? I don’t want to waste the time I have left with you.”

 

Blare’s expression softened, and she nodded slowly.

 

“Okay… sure.”

 

“You guys alright?

 

Pepper looked up at them nervously as they approached her, her large brown eyes looked at them with uncertainty.

 

“we’re fine, just talking about spirits is all.”

 

Pepper seemed to calm down at Blare’s words and began to jump around in excitement.

 

“Speaking of spirits- oh wait, that’s a surprise I almost forgot! I’ll tell you later when we’re more ready! Come on I wanna show you where all the power goes!”

 

Pepper quickly made her way through the city and the pair had to sprint to catch up to her, as they passed Emily noticed that the buildings had begun to look more futuristic, electric bolts seemed to travel though the walls glowing a faded shade of lavender casting the streets in its eerie light, Emily couldn’t help but think of the Tarqaron.

 

“Here it is!”

 

Pepper stood proudly by the biggest building in the city, it pulsed with the same purple energy that the other buildings did and sent a strange shiver down Emily’s spine, she was never one for technology, she preferred to do things with her own hands, though she had to admit it had its purposes.

 

The building was tall, more like a tower than anything else, with metal plates and strange cylinders all around it, they seemed to be storing all the energy it was gathering from the sun, at its top there were three giant springs that connected in the triangle, small bolts of the purple energy buzzed and crackled through them as they were sent to their destinations.

 

It really was a sight to behold.

 

“I helped mom design it! I’m super proud!”

 

Emily chuckled, Pepper always seemed to have so much energy, she really couldn’t figure out where it all came from, and finishing projects or getting to help with one her mother was working on only seemed to fuel her.

 

“It’s amazing…”

 

“Pretty cool right? This powers everything in New Aspio! It gets power from the panels and turns it into something we can use.”

 

“It’s hard to believe that the light from the sun can be turned into power, it would do so much for other towns and cities, though I gotta say, I don’t wanna live under a skyline of dark panels like here does.”

 

Pepper giggled.

 

“Well yeah, it’s not for everyone. Follow me I’ll show you the sun!”

 

“The sun? …But how-”

 

Pepper had already run off leaving Emily half way through her sentence.

 

“Best not to question it Emily.”

 

Blare commented calmly as she walked past her. Emily let out a huff but decided to drop it, following as Pepper led them up a long winding stairway that stood behind the energy device, it started out as tall stone steps, but as they continued they turned into metal stairs, some of which looked as if they had only recently been installed at the top.

 

“Here we are!”

 

Pepper stopped at a large metal door, it looked heavy and had a lot of wiring, lights and complicated pieces of machinery connected to it, it looked like something Emily had seen in a book she read about Heracles.

 

{Authorization is required to enter: Please speak your Identification code}

 

“Eek! It speaks!?”

 

Blare backed away from the door, slightly frightened by the automated system having a voice.

 

“No, not really, it’s just pre-recorded stuff it says depending on what actions and results it gets, that would be cool though!”

 

Pepper walked up to the audio device that was attached to the door and spoke into it.

 

“Pepper L. Mordio, Identification: 4987665.”

 

The Heavy door released its seal with a loud hissing sound before finally opening up for them to pass, Pepper stepped through eagerly while Blare and Emily passed its threshold with a bit more caution. They went up a much smaller set of metal stairs reaching a far less intimidating door that didn’t appear to be kept locked, when Pepper swung the door open Emily had to shield her eyes from the blinding light, being in the city for as long as they had been had made her eyes far more sensitive to the sun’s natural light.

 

“My gosh! I can’t see a thing!”

 

“Your eyes will adjust Emily, don’t worry.”

 

“I know that Blare…”

 

Emily rolled her eyes, her friend as much as she loved her, tended to state the obvious from time to time.

 

Definitely a trait she got from her father.

 

“Isn’t it amazing!?”

 

Pepper’s voice brought Emily back to the present.

 

“I bet it is, but I can’t really see it.”

 

Emily slowly uncovered her eyes, the sight was breathtaking, the sun glowed a brilliant reddish orange as it was beginning to set, the sky was a dark blue, purple and mix of red and pink, the water shimmered with the remaining light, making the ocean look like liquid sapphire.

 

“Amazing…”

 

“I know right! I love being up here at sunset.”

 

“It’s so beautiful… but… are we standing on the MordioPanels? Is that safe?”

 

Pepper waved away Blare’s concern.

 

“Don’t look so worried Blare, just don’t be up here on Wednesday afternoons and your fine!”

 

“Uh…” Emily stared at her slightly nervous.

 

“What happens on Wednesday afternoons?”

 

“Oh, we open the panels for cleaning and maintenance. Nothing too scary! Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

 

“Because TODAY is Wednesday Pepper!”

 

She laughed at their outburst still very unconcerned.

 

“Oh come on, they already finished the cleaning for today, it’s fine, sides I’ve fallen from here before you’ll just fall into the large lake below… uh… don’t tell mom I fell off though!”

 

Emily and Blare looked at one another for a moment before looking back at Pepper, it was probably in their best interest not to get Auntie Rita angry.

“Yeah… I think we can do that, just don’t fall off anymore okay?”

 

“Sure thing! I’m more careful now, promise!”

 

Emily shook her head, she planned to say something else, but she heard the pager Rita gave them begin to make it’s whirring sound, she gingerly pulled the device from her pocket and watched it glow softly blue again.

 

“Looks like mom wants us.”

 

“I guess it has been awhile, I hope she can tell us something.”

 

Emily nodded to Blare and put the pager back in her pocket, it was time to see what exactly made the necklace so special, and while their day had been wonderful hanging out with Pepper, Emily couldn’t shake the odd feeling that she felt about the whole situation. Something told her it wasn’t going to be as simple as she hoped it would be.

 

Then again, the Lowell family was known for getting into more then they planned.

 

“Welcome back girls…”

 

Rita sounded worried, and that wasn’t like her, they sat down on the long wooden bench that was against the east wall of their workshop, somehow Emily felt this was something they should hear sitting down.

 

“I’m still looking through all the data, there’s weeks’ worth of information in this thing, but I have learned some interesting things, this device? Is amazing, it somehow runs its own formula and executes magic without using aer, it’s almost like it runs on a battery but I can’t seem to figure out what the power source is…”

 

“On a battery? So that means it will run out of power at some point?”

 

“Seems like it Emily, what I found interesting is that information about a location in the Yurzorean continent keep popping up, in the data I’ve been able to understand so far it’s very prevalent, it could be that’s where it was made.”

 

“Without aer? But…that’s not possible… is it?”  
  
“I didn’t think it was either Pepper, but it seems to work fine, in fact it seems to be more powerful than the bodhi blastia we used to use… what the gem is made of and why it works is still a mystery to me.”

 

“Auntie… what did it mean by: usage of lost soul?”

 

Emily remembered seeing it in the data earlier that day, it seemed like an odd thing to be among calculations.

 

“That I can’t tell you, not until I figure out more about it, its similar and yet nothing like the blastia of the past, whoever made this is brilliant, but I wonder why they’ve been keeping it such a secret, this blastia could bring the world back into an age of complete security.”

 

“Hmm… perhaps what they have to do to make it would be considered immoral? Or even illegal, blastia are forbidden in the Empire after all.”

 

Emily couldn’t help but agree with what Blare had said, more than likely they were hiding it to keep themselves safe from persecution, or perhaps it was something even worse.

 

 “Could be, in any case I think you should check out the location that keeps popping up in the data, something there could give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with, meanwhile I’m going to try to decode the Zeretta Formula.”

 

“Sounds good to me, give us the location on a map and we’ll head out first thing tomorrow-”

 

Emily was out off.

 

“Emily… I have to head to Aurnion… if I don’t I’ll miss my rollcall.”

 

Emily frowned, she knew she had promised to make sure Blare made it to Aurnion on time, but this was so important! Couldn’t she see that? Something was going on and they had to find out what it was.

 

“But Blare, if these are being mass-produced they could flood the streets of the Empire at any time! Who knows what that woman plans to do with them, we need to go find out what’s going on out there.”

 

“You do, I have duties to perform… even if…”

 

Blare stopped short, looking Emily in the eyes.

 

“This is something I have to do, so drop me off then go find out what their hiding.”

 

Emily sighed, this hurt worse than she thought it was going to.

 

“Blare… I don’t wanna pressure you… Your dad does that enough as it is, but I know you can feel it, something is really wrong, and… I don’t wanna find it alone…but if this is what _you_ want then ill drop you off… but if what _you_ want is to find the truth with me? Then please… don’t leave me just yet.”

 

Blare looked away, division clear in her gaze.

 

“I … I have to Emily… I can’t just not show up…”

 

It took everything Emily had not to tear up at that, she hated how much she felt obligated to do something she hated just because her father expected her to follow his footsteps.

 

“Alright… when we get up in the morning, ill drop you off.”

 

Emily walked away, if she didn’t leave now she was going to cry, and she wasn’t going to let them see her like that, no matter how badly it hurt.

 

She wasn’t sure, but she could swear she heard Blare sniffle as she turned the corner to head to the upstairs of the workshop, and Pepper gently comforting her, the last thing she wanted was to make this even harder on Blare.

 

Goddess, she really hated goodbyes.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Late as always.

 

She should really expect this by now, but somehow, she always thinks he might come to lunch on time, at least once in his life, of course that time wasn’t today, he knew she had a tight schedule, honestly.

 

Sodia took a sip of her tea, it was getting cold and she detested drinking cold tea, she was glad that the rest of the meal was already cold so it wouldn’t really matter, that being said she was this close to starting without him, she hadn’t gotten breakfast and that pudding on the table was looking divine.

 

“Yo.”

 

She sighed, of course he shows up when she’s given up on him, she shouldn’t be surprised.

 

“Yo? That all you have to say? Making as wait, as always.”

 

“Haha, sorry, traffic was awful.”

 

She snorted, which only seem to make him laugh more.

 

“Traffic? In the castle? I don’t think so. Hurry up and eat or I’m eating without you.”

 

“Alright, alright, pushy.”

 

He sat down and made himself comfortable, pulling the potato salad out from the cooler that sat by their picnic table.

 

“Honestly Yuri, we’ve been having lunch on Thursday for the last eight years and you _still_ can’t seem to get here _at_ lunch time. Besides this is important, I would think would’ve have been here sooner.”

 

“Well if you want me to be honest, reason I’m so late is cuz the person in question had me doing paper for over an hour, you know how hard it is to slip away from him?”

 

She took a bite of her tuna sandwich before replying.

 

“Of course I do, I’ve been his second in command for twenty years now, but you can’t tell me couldn’t have come up with something.”

 

“I think he’s onto me to be honest, he kept wanting to know where I needed to be in such a hurry.”

 

She rose an eyebrow at that.

 

“Not as if he doesn’t know we have lunch every week, that’s odd.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

She sighed and took another sip of her slightly cooled tea.

 

“Ever since Blare left he’s been… on edge… I don’t know what to do with him…”

 

“You talked to him about it?”

 

“I’ve tried… but he hasn’t made time for me… it’s not like him…”

 

Yuri sat back in contemplation, looking up at the castle wall across the way, from where they were they could just barely make out the window to Flynn’s office. He looked back at her with an odd expression.

 

“You two…. Alright?”

 

She stared into the tea cup, she didn’t have an answer to that.

 

“I… don’t know… the last few months have been… difficult…”

 

They ate in silence for a while, both thinking about what exactly to do about their runaway commandant, he needed to take time off and get away from work for a while, but they both knew Flynn would fight them every step of the way. That was just the kind of person he was now.

 

“As much as I’d like to think he’s just grumpy cuz he hasn’t been laid in a few months, we need to consider making him take leave…”

 

Sodia looked up at him, worry swirling in her magenta gaze.

 

“You know he won’t accept that, he hasn’t been on leave in years, all he knows is his work…”

 

“I know… and it’s my fault for letting him hide behind his duties for so long… after what happened with Anna… I knew better.”

 

“His heart is still with her…”

 

“He does love you Sodia.”

 

She looked away not seeming convinced.

 

“He does, problem is he doesn’t know how to move on… he never has… and I’ve let it go up til now, but seeing how badly he’s pushing Blare, I can’t ignore it anymore.”

 

“But what can we do? Forcing him will only make him retreat even further from us.”

 

“Yeah I know…”

 

Yuri slid her a plate of pudding and slowly she took a bite, the chocolate melted in her mouth instantly making her relax, something about eating Yuri’s cooking always had a way of calming her down.

 

She supposed she could forgive him for being so late.

 

“How about this.”

 

Yuri took a bite of pudding himself before continuing.

 

“Send him out in the field for a while.”

 

“What good would that do?”

 

Yuri swung his leg lazily, most people would think he wasn’t taking this seriously, fortunately she knew better.

 

“Get him out of the castle, after being in the field we can probably justify getting him to take time off, after all he hasn’t been out in years.”

 

“There hasn’t been any need for him to be…”

 

“Well, with everything going on with the towns and villages being taken over, I think we can make a pretty good excuse.”

 

Sodia nodded, taking the final bite of her pudding, she really hoped the idea Yuri had worked, if not she wasn’t sure there was anything they could do to stop his downward spiral.

 

“I have to get back to work.”

 

“Yeah, I know, tell him when you get back that I’m not signing another damn scrap of paper until he gets his ass out of his office chair and has dinner with me.”

 

“I’ll be sure to tell him that, word for word.”

 

“Haha, thanks.”

 

“I hope things get better…”

 

“Same here, you go, I’ll clean this up.”

 

She nodded and made her way back through the gardens, it really should still feel odd to sit and share a meal with a man she used to hate so much, then again, she had a lot of reasons to respect him as well, he certainly was more than just a criminal, and the world wasn’t as black and white as she had always wanted to believe it to be.

 

Perhaps it was her that had changed, she had heard getting old could do that to you.

 

She looked at herself in one of the hallways mirrors, she could tell, the smallest sign of wrinkles that were forming on her face, how her pace was slightly slower than it used to be, how she was losing her stamina despite her best efforts to stay in shape.

 

She was getting old, and someday soon, Flynn would move on without her, she would have to retire, and she was going to be too old for him.

 

Someday soon someone else would hold him when he woke in the middle of the night from night terrors, someone else would love him, cherish him, protect him. And she would be nothing but a memory.

 

She took a deep breath and walked into his office to give him afternoon reports, someday soon this wouldn’t be her job anymore, but she would be damned if she wasn’t going to give him her all until the day she couldn’t be there for him anymore.

 

She loved him too much not to.

 

She only hoped he still loved her that way as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There ya go! got a bit emotional there, also got some more dynamic between Yuri and Sodia. hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you have any questions let me know <3

**Author's Note:**

> That's chapter one! I know not too much going on but we're getting there! Also here is the link to the fanart i based Emily off of, you should really give it a look ^.^
> 
> http://asatsuyu.deviantart.com/art/ToV-OC-Emily-Costumes-577891567


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